Call for Advocate nominations
The Women’s Place, grant partners, and the Advocates and Allies Advisory Council (AAAC) for the NSF-supported “Advocates and Allies” initiative request nominations, including self-nominations, for male faculty members seeking to participate as Advocates for gender diversity efforts at Ohio State.
To bring men further into the gender equity coalition, Ohio State has partnered on a NSF grant entitled Advocates and Allies for Equity. The grant will bring the successful Advocates and Allies facilitation program developed at North Dakota State University to Ohio State. In this men-training-men-advised-by-women program, “Advocates” are men who volunteer to increase their understanding of male privilege and facilitate workshops developed with input from a Advocates and Allies Advisory Council for other male faculty—the “Allies.” Allies are participants in the program’s facilitation workshops. They commit to understand the issues, adopt specific approaches and behaviors, and extend the benefits of privilege and influence to women and underrepresented minorities.
Changing the culture at Ohio State takes everyone, including men. As the primary holders of influence and privilege, men must be involved to ensure long-term sustained change that brings the benefits of influence and privilege to women and people of color. Bringing men closer to the center of the issue requires new behaviors and actions for everyone so that partnerships across our differences and within our perceived sameness can flex to accomplish the change we seek.
Diversity is everyone’s responsibility. It lessens all of us when any of our colleagues cannot fully participate at work as they really are. Your self-nomination or nomination of a colleague will help to create a work culture that brings out the best in everyone. The deadline for nominations is January 11, 2016. The selection of members will be done quickly thereafter so that the group can begin its work immediately.